On Wednesday 6 October, invited guests gathered in the Creative Quarter to see the NTU X Emmanuel House Collaboration fashion showcase storm down Avenues B & C of Sneinton Market’s built-in runway. The project is a collaborative venture between NTU’s fashion design students and Emmanuel House - a homeless charity based in the Creative Quarter.
The students were asked to design functional garments for users of Emmanuel House’s service users, thinking about the kind of challenges they will come up against whilst sleeping on the streets.
The end results featured impressive, beautifully designed garments which were weather resistant, comfortable, and functional, many with other clever features such as built-in sleeping bags. It’s also important to note that many were designed using recycled materials, with some donated by the Pentland Group and Lavenham Jackets.
Alongside the garments an emotional video with featuring a user of Emmanuel House was shown, who explained the importance of the project to him.
Denis Tully, CEO of Emmanuel House said:
‘’The project is a fantastic project, students connecting with people that are homeless, asking them for ideas of things they would design for them…that makes a massive difference. And it really connects into the idea that we often forget is that people who are homeless have dreams and aspirations and needs, the same as we all do when we wake up every morning.’’
‘’It also emphasises the metaphor that no one company can solve homelessness on their own. It takes all different organisations working together and it also needs buy-in from the community to help as well, because without community, certainly Emmanuel House wouldn’t exist.’’
A representative of NTU said:
‘’When we briefed them, we asked them to think about the needs of the users of Emmanuel House, so we gave them some key words like ‘Be Warm’ ‘Be Dry’ ‘Be Secure’ and then they would take those and start developing their concept.’’
‘’It really is a project that really gets them thinking about practicalities, and with that, functional design, for an end user.’’
Any garments not used will be sold in the Emmanuel House charity shop. Follow them on social media @emmanuelhousesupportcentre for updates.
